You have a list of providers and at least one quote. Before you compare any of it, run one test: count the questions each provider asks you before it puts a number or a promise on paper. A provider that asks few questions is quoting a generic house. A provider that asks specific questions is building a plan for your house, and you can check that plan later.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Step 1: Use the same intake notes for every provider

Write these lines on one sheet and carry it to every call or visit. Fill them in before you speak to anyone.

  1. Name of the person needing help: ____________________
  2. Hours that need coverage, by day: ____________________
  3. Tasks that need a second pair of hands: ____________________
  4. Stairs, bathroom layout, pets, or locks that matter: ____________________
  5. Who in the family gets told first when something changes: ____________________

Step 2: Sort each question the provider asks into one of three types

As the provider talks, put a mark beside each question in the matching column.

  1. About the person: mobility, memory, bathing, meals, who else lives in or visits the home.
  2. About the house: entry points, stairs, bathroom layout, where supplies are kept, what the caregiver will need to find.
  3. About the routine: which hours, which days, and what the family wants reported and how.

A provider that asks only about price or availability has not started the job yet. Note that and move on.

Step 3: Count and compare

Write one tally line per provider: total questions asked, how many fall in each type, and whether the provider wrote anything down while you talked.

Provider A: questions asked ______ about person ______ about house ______ about routine ______ wrote notes Yes / No

Provider B: questions asked ______ about person ______ about house ______ about routine ______ wrote notes Yes / No

Put the tallies beside each other. The provider with the most specific questions is not automatically the right one, but it is the one whose plan you can hold to a written standard.

Step 4: Ask what happens to the notes

Ask each provider these three questions and write the answers in full.

  1. What do you write down from this conversation?
  2. Who gets a copy, and when?
  3. If the caregiver finds something different from what we described, who hears about it first?

Signs to walk away

  • The provider quotes a rate before asking anything about the person or the house.
  • No notes are taken, and the provider cannot say where notes would be kept.
  • The provider answers every question about the house with a general promise and no follow-up question of its own.

For the broader sequence of steps, see Start Here: Five Steps to Hiring.

What to write down today

Your intake sheet, the three tallies, and the answers to the three notes questions. Keep them in one folder. You will need the same facts again when a provider sends a plan, and when you decide between providers.